Desanctified delight A developer has turned a former Methodist church in Lee into a multifamily home, listed at $1.49 million. Page 2
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Berkshire Business Journal OCTOBER 2024 I VOL. 3, NO. 10
Groomed for success
BEN GARVER
Brian and Tyler Fairbank share the responsibilities of the Fairbank Group, including Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort in Hancock. As business partners, they don’t often disagree, Brian says, but when they do, they talk it out.
Starting at Jiminy Peak, Fairbank Group leaders ventured down many trails By Jane K aufman HANCOCK — Known as the mountain man, Brian Fairbank has built a destination of Jiminy Peak, fueling a small city and helping shape Berkshire County. Now, at 78, he’s on the job every day at Jiminy Peak with his beloved shih tzu, Sophie. He also chairs the Fairbank Group, where his son, Tyler Fairbank, is CEO. On Sept. 19, the Fairbank Group was honored by 1Berkshire with its 2024 Putting the Berkshires on the Map award for the work father and son have done in the private, public and nonprofit sectors. Decades after his children finished school, Brian is serving on the board of Berk12, weighing in on the next big changes in public education. He chairs the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame, hav-
ing been inducted in 2022. He also serves on the board of Berkshire Natural Resources Council, following his mentor Fred Crane Jr., who founded that organization. And this spring he presided over a contentious town meeting as Hancock’s moderator, the most divisive he can recall in his 40-odd years at that helm. Since its inception in 2013, the Fairbank Group has grown, overseeing six ventures — Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort; Cranmore Mountain Resort North Conway; Bromley Vermont’s Sun Mountain; Snowgun Technologies; EOS Ventures, a renewable energy company; and Bullwheel Productions, offering online training for ski resorts. The Fairbank Group’s homepage states its mission simply: “Enhancing lives, building sustainable futures.” At work, Brian and Tyler don’t
often disagree. Perhaps that’s because their mission is finely tuned and their vision so closely aligned. When father and son do differ, they talk it out. “If you’re not busting on somebody, there’s a storm brewing,” Brian says. “And that’s in any relationship. If everything gets quiet, there better be some talking.” ABOUT TYLER FAIRBANK Tyler, 55, also has a dog he brings to work, a goldendoodle named Teddy. He has an easy smile, a lower speaking voice, a larger frame and presence than his father. That might play to his affinity for performing with his rocking blues band T-Bone Daddy. Gigs are on hold following a health crisis in 2017, when he experienced double vision at his son’s college graduation, then symptoms
that appeared to indicate a stroke. He later learned he had a rare malformation in his brain. At first, surgery wasn’t thought to be an option, but he underwent a craniotomy, an operation lasting more than eight hours at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Since then, he’s worked hard to regain his path to health — relearning how to walk, talk and play guitar. Along the way, he agreed to share his story in a four-minute documentary for the Angioma Alliance, where he serves on the board. Tyler says he’s an “SOB,” a son of the Berkshires. Born at Pittsfield General Hospital, he attended Hancock Elementary School and graduated from Mount Greylock Regional High School, also spending time at Killington Mountain School in Vermont, where he took lessons from FAIRBANK GROUP, Page 10